AB de Villiers attacks KL Rahul and others for "way too conservative" approach in Lord's Test
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India's loss at Lord's has not only met criticism but has also induced several non-participants in controversies to speak in opposition of the Men in Blue's performance at Lord's.
India was to chase only 193 runs throughout almost 4 sessions, after the Indian bowlers did a remarkable job bowling out the English batters for just 192 in the second innings. To everyone, even the winner predictor, it seemed India was a 100% favourite with no chances of a win for England or a draw.
But England eventually won the match by 22 runs. Now the question arises of who should be handed the credit for it, the English bowlers or the Indian top-order batters, who played the worst they could to leave their fans devastated and waste the golden opportunity to take an early lead in the series.
AB de Villiers slammed the Indian top-order on his channel
Former Royal Challengers Bangalore star batter AB de Villiers has criticized the top 5 batters in the Indian lineup for having shown no signs of intent, as a result of which the match ended in a tragic loss, despite the strong persistence from Jadeja and the tailenders.
He did not seem to agree with India's strategy of playing a conservative brand of cricket, despite such a low score and the amount of success the team has attained, showing intent in the game.
"I think team India went wrong in my humble opinion, final innings way too conservative with the bat in hand in the top five."
"I felt Jaddu played it to the tea because he needed to be conservative and play the situation, where I felt the top five had a lot more freedom to be fluent out there and to take that attack to the English bowlers, put pressure on them, make them get the catches out," said AB de Villiers on his YouTube channel.
AB de Villiers is all praise for India's bowling attack
Though AB de Villiers slammed the Indian batters who had the strategy to take the chase deeper into Day 5's play but failed miserably in their prospect, he is all praise to the Indian bowlers, who, according to him, did a remarkable job.
Indian bowlers contributed significantly to India in the second innings, as Bumrah and Siraj picked up two wickets each, while Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy had a wicket as well. However, Washington Sundar worked a wonder at Lord's with his 4/22, where he cleaned up the big three for England: Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jamie Smith.
"....I truly believe Team India’s bowling attack is over England’s batting attack, and they are doing their job. It’s just the batters because they’re getting the starts, but they’re not just pushing on,” he added.
AB de Villiers - the second Proteas to identify the lack of intent in the Indian innings at Lord's
AB de Villiers is not the first South African to have slammed the Indian players' intent in the Lord's Test second innings; previously Herschelle Gibbs also did the same on his X handle.
Gibbs, however, not only slammed the Indian top order but also took a dig at Jasprit Bumrah, who played 54 balls and did not show any intent to score runs. Though many tried to back Bumrah, saying that was the need of the hour, Gibbs was firm that if Bumrah could have the record of most runs in an over in Test cricket, why could a similar intent not be shown here?
One thing seems evident from all these: despite the format being Test cricket, for modern players, intent is what can win you matches, be it any format of the game.
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India National Cricket Team England National Cricket Team India vs England England vs India AB de Villiers Shubman Gill Jasprit Bumrah Ravindra Jadeja KL Rahul
